Premier Daniel Andrews’ statement accepting Jane Garrett’s resignation impossible to square with reality

JANE Garrett is gone. The CFA Board will shortly follow. Their fears about what this EBA will mean for Victoria’s fire services have been cast aside so the UFU can be appeased, writes James Campbell.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley (left) with former Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett at the State Control Centre. Picture: Mike Keating

JANE Garrett is gone from Cabinet. The CFA Board will shortly follow.

Their fears about what this EBA will mean for Victoria’s fire services have been cast aside so that the UFU can be appeased.

The Premier’s statement accepting Garrett’s resignation is impossible to square with reality:

“Despite all concerns previously raised by Ms Garrett being addressed, she has indicated she refuses to support Cabinet proposals to end the long-running dispute over the CFA Enterprise Agreement.”

No thank you for your hard work over the past year and half.

No sorry about the bullying you endured over the past year and a half.

No statement accepting that people of goodwill can have irreconcilable differences of opinion.

Just a self-evidently untrue statement.

If Garrett’s concerns had been addressed she wouldn’t have resigned.

We got an example of how this Government ‘addresses concerns’ yesterday one of Daniel Andrews’ ministers got up in parliament to reassure us that the President of Fair Work Iain Ross had said everything was fine about the EBA on the equal opportunity front.

That statement wasn’t true either.

She later had to backtrack in parliament and apologise to Mr Ross.

Verballing the President of Fair Work or a Minister on the way out the door: it’s all in a day’s work for this mob.

As a Labor veteran said this morning: “It’s a gangster government mate.”

NEWS REPORT: Jane Garrett resigns from Cabinet over CFA dispute